Bryan Singer is Officially Directing X-Men: Days of Future Past

Well that didn’t take long. After Matthew Vaughn, who directed “X-Men: First Class” bailed on the sequel to do “The Secret Service” with Mark Millar instead, Fox has wasted no time finding a replacement — the first film’s (and sequel’s) producer, Bryan Singer.

Singer is, of course, no stranger to the X-Men movie universe, having directed the first two “X-Men” movies, before himself bailing on the third film to direct his passion project, “Superman Returns”. Fanboy favorite (ahem) Brett Ratner ended up directing the third “X-Men” movie.

Fox couldn’t waste too much time looking for a replacement, since they’ve already penciled “Days of Future Past” in for a July 18, 2014 release date. Given that these films are usually huge undertakings, landing Singer to take over for Vaughn was the ideal result they could have hoped for. He knows the universe, the characters, and how to get big-budget comic book movies done.

Singer will direct “Days of Future Past” from a script by Simon Kinberg, with all three main actors — James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Jennifer Lawrence — expected to reprise their roles from the 2011 film. Although we don’t know plot details yet, given the subtitle of the sequel — “Days of Future Past” — it’s likely this will be based on the comic book storyline of the same name, which found Kitty Pryde traveling into the past to warn the X-Men of impending doom.